SOCIAL STATUS OF THE FIRST CHRISTIANS

Abstract

At the beginning of the twentieth century, in academic circle of German protestant theologian and sociologist emerged so cold
Deprivation Theory. According to this theory, the first adepts of new religions and new religious movements are poor, marginalized people deprived of social privileges. The theory is based on the assumption that people are driven to religiosity essentially by material problems and hopelessness related with it. The historical facts and the opinions of prominent historians presented in the paper are clearly at odds with the basic tenets of the theory.